Court Takes I-595 Case

January 16, 1988|Staff reports

The state Supreme Court has agreed to consider a civil case in which Florida`s Department of Transportation could have to pay two contractors for the same $50 million Interstate 595 construction job, a Department attorney said on Friday.

The department petitioned the high court for a hearing in the case in August, after an appeals court in Tallahassee ruled the department had acted improperly in 1986 in rejecting a low bid from Groves-Watkins Construction of Minnesota.

The appeals court ordered the department to award Groves-Watkins the job of building an interchange linking I-595, the Sawgrass Expressway and Interstate 75 in western Broward County.

But the department already had hired another firm, Harbert-Westbrook, to do the work. Harbert-Westbrook is scheduled to finish the project in August.

The department`s general counsel, Robert Scanlan, said the department was right to reject Groves-Watkins` bid because it far exceeded original estimates for the cost of the job.

Should the state lose the case, the court could order Groves-Watkins be paid for the job even though Harbert-Westbrook is building the interchange and also will be paid for it.